TRENTON — The New Jersey State Board of Medical Examiners has temporarily suspended the license of a physician in Camden County who is accused of being "an easy mark" for drug-seeking patients, and writing them prescriptions for painkillers for months and even years at a time without evaluating them, the state Division of Consumer Affairs announced today.

Adam C. Gilliss, a family doctor in Merchantville, engaged in a "grossly negligent pattern" of prescribing oxycodone and other addictive medication to seven patients, putting them at risk of fueling an addiction or allowing them to sell the drugs illegally, according to a statement from Consumer Affairs Acting Director Steve Lee.

Gilliss could not immediately be reached for comment by phone at his practice. He may appeal the decision.

The state's licensing and disciplinary board voted Wednesday to suspend Gilliss' license on the advice of an advisory committee, which found his continued practice of medicine “would present a clear and imminent danger to public health, safety, and welfare,” according to the state's announcement.

"While the vast majority of New Jersey’s doctors are responsible partners in our fight against opiate abuse, there are those who contribute to the problem , either through greed or through gross negligence,” Lee said. “This action should serve as a clear warning to those physicians who, despite the deaths and suffering caused by opiate abuse, still fail to take this crisis seriously.”

Based on evidence gathered by the division’s Enforcement Bureau, the advisory committee consisting of medical board members concluded Gilliss “knew that he was perceived to be an ‘easy mark’ for drug-seeking patients, but took no measures to alter his lax practices,” until he realized in the fall of last year he was under investigation.

According to an analysis of Medicare prescribing data from 2011 by ProPublica, a nonprofit investigative news organization, 54 percent of Gilliss' patients received at least one prescription for a narcotic painkiller, compared to a statewide average of 14 percent by other family doctors. He was near the bottom of the list of family doctors for the number of prescriptions he refilled that year, ranking 1,124 out of 1,131, according to the data.

Deputy Attorney General Bindi Merchant presented the case to the board.